I still haven’t worked out what to do when I grow up! I’m mainly a writer, an artist, and a fairytale dressmaker with various crafty hobbies! Here (and on YouTube) I share bits of my life, thoughts, and what I’m learning along the way. Let’s find magic and inspiration; join me for this creative living adventure!

 

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Glastonbury festival wedding dress
Making the Glastonbury Festival bag dress – version 2
June 19, 2019
Wishing Glastonbury Festival isn’t over, on the Monday afternoon when most people have gone home, the kids and I usually take a walk through the festival site. It’s sad to say that some people STILL aren’t taking any notice of the ‘Love the farm; leave no trace’ mantra, and during the years when we were given free tote bags on arrival, unfortunately many were left behind. Rather than let them go into landfill, from 2015 to 2017 I decided to pick up as many as I could carry to turn them into a festival dress…
camera choices for bloggers
Finding the perfect camera system for youtubers, vloggers, bloggers & photographers.
June 17, 2019
Are you a blogger, photographer and vlogger? The big camera question! Do you, or do you not carry two cameras around with you at all times? Are you struggling with choosing which camera you need? I love photography and want to take with me a decent dslr to shoot in raw with a choice of lenses and allow me to take creative photos for my personal enjoyment as well as for my blog. However, I also vlog most of my life for my YouTube channel, and need to carry a camera for that as well. Can we combine them both? What should we do?
Glad to be together! ~ Painting special florals with mixed media and oils
June 24, 2025
Hello! This week I continue Mum's semi abstract floral painting using watercolour and oil paint. We also have a day out visiting Tyntesfield, and a belated Easter Egg hunt! As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Remember to play! Watercolour art books ~ starting a painting with an abstract background.
June 17, 2025
I have a playful week having fun with watercolours! I follow some process instructions from the book 'Capturing Light' by Caroline Beale. I also flip through Experimental Flowers and Experimental Landscapes in watercolour, and Poetic Woods by Ann Blockley. I also begin a new mixed media painting with an abstract background. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Art books & art supplies ~ Swatching oil pastels & Lightfast pencils ~ Mixed Media painting
June 10, 2025
Hi folks! This week I've got a small art supplies haul from my birthday presents. I swatch and give a first impressions review of Sennelier iridescent oil pastels; Winsor and Newton Artist's oil pastels, and Derwent Lightfast pencils. I also share the art books I was given. Plus I finish the magical May mixed media painting. Have a wonderful week! x As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Styling a hippy maxi dress
Styling a hippy maxi dress
May 20, 2019
I bought this dress from a magic shop under the shadow of a pirate castle in Lanzarote when we were on holiday last year. By that I mean that it was one of those shops with a tiny front and a little plank door and you have to duck low to get inside. Then you find the shop is massive and goes back and back and back until it comes out onto another street entirely. Anyway, it was from there, but if you want to try and hunt it out out, the label says Elora…..
Glastonbury Festival site panoramic photo
Glastonbury Festival site, Panoramic photo 3, 2019
May 14, 2019
It’s fun to see the second team of fence builders have started on the opposite side of the Glastonbury Festival site this morning – it amazes me how they manage to make it meet – I suppose they must stop at an entrance gate. Anyway, I’m a bit embarrassed to confess that the tall tower in my Instagram Story yesterday, I think is just an electricity pylon that’s always there! It just looked different from a different angle and in the evening sunlight! The scaffolding construction though is definitely new….
official Outlander outfit
Styling khaki check / tartan for spring – an Outlander outfit
May 14, 2019
Have you seen the Starz Outlander series on telly? Or read the books by Diana Gabaldon? Chris and I have watched the four series through twice, and have begun to listen to the audio books in the car on our little jaunts around the country! When a clothing catalogue from the company EMP came through the door last November and I was browsing through for Christmas presents for the kids, I literally squealed in delight when I saw a page full of official Outlander clothing!….
Ten years on YouTube!! Is it time I stopped? A day in the life of an artist youtuber
June 3, 2025
It's my tenth anniversary on YouTube, so I thought I'd go old-school and film a day in the life video! I hope you like it. :) As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Behind the scenes of an artist's life!
May 27, 2025
Hi Folks! This week I do various art tasks like sorting my paintbrushes, finishing, signing, varnishing and framing some paintings; and I begin a magical May mixed media painting inspired by one of my favourite childhood books. I also style some photos for spring interiors inspiration; and I take you outside my studio for some decluttering and sorting of our old farmhouse kitchen storage. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Painting fairytale figures in gouache ~ An American road trip! Nevada, Utah, California USA
May 14, 2025
For the full road trip video, (it was amazing!) please join my newsletter (always free!) https://helenhobden.substack.com/ This week I share my painting process of fairytale figures - Tiny Dancers or Little Women?! Realistic in gouache, on an abstract watercolour background. I also have some little teaser clips of a wonderful roadtrip holiday Chris and I have just had - we started in Nevada, then to Utah, and then to California. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
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